Testimonies: Women from prostitution speak out
“I am still dealing with the aftermath of being in prostitution. I suffer nightmares, flashbacks and am triggered by numerous things ..
… I find it difficult to trust people, particularly men, and still struggle massively around sex. I still dissociate, and feel like I split off from myself. I still define myself by these experiences and it tears me apart when programmes like ‘Diary of a call girl’ etc are on tv. It devalues my whole experience, makes me feel less able to speak about the reality. It makes me feel hopeless and utterly and wretchedly alone, drowned out by the vast noise of the sex industry and its all-powerful lobbying.
At times I have felt suicidal with it. Prostitution is not empowering, fun, a free choice. It is soul destroying, degrading, painful. When I was working, I had to join in the lie and say I liked it and I chose it, and I think that that is what upsets me the most now. This lie is all pervasive, with the mainstreaming of pornography and even comedy like Friends making light of it, but the reality is much darker. Only now that I am out of it am I free to tell the truth and have a voice” . Angel
Testimonies
Warning: the following testimonies contain descriptions of abuse and violence which may be distressing
Artwork
Myrna Balk is an award winning artist. Her work show here, “The Demand Factor: Buying Despair”, came from her experiences as a social worker supporting trafficked women.
Read more about Myrna’s work here